JZA90 Supra Development

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Every year a new car release puts us consumers in a tough spot- choosing between a “want” and a “need”. Actually, that’s pretty much the market that TEIN is in. We have a performance product that either a customer simply just wants, or in fact really needs, all depending on what they’re using it for. And for us, just like these new car releases, we have to determine which of our products the customer is going to want, especially for something like the much anticipated new Toyota Supra.

Even on a spec sheet, a stock A90 Supra is a very good package. Of course, as always, the OEM leaves a bit to be desired in many aspects. However, we can see a change in demographic in what they “want” and “need”. Even before the A90 made its way to the consumer, we received inquiries on this platform, mostly with potential owners wanting coilovers. In fact, we got our head start working with Toyota Motorsports as they prepared a couple of A90’s for pace cars to be used at Toyota sponsored events, such as NASCAR races. It was a great opportunity for our in-house engineer to get all the measurements he needs and make a suspension that works well for a pace car, no different than what we’ve done for the Camry pace cars that Toyota Motorsports has worked with us on suspension over the past few years.

Toyota Pace Car

Again, on OEM specs alone, the new A90 Supra is very well equipped. Even though we knew that a “pace car” suspension will never be made as an out-of-the-box setup for our end-users, we had to really think of what, of our products, is the best fit.

A90 Supras have factory electronically controlled suspension. It’s sharing basically all the underpinnings of BMW’s Z4 platform, and BMW technology is found throughout the Supra. So, we know that some consumers are going to want to retain that feature. So first on the list is lowering springs, our S.TECH line specifically.

Next, we knew that coilovers were inevitable. So development on that naturally came next. We’re for sure making a street compliant kit, most likely based around our STREET ADVANCE Z, FLEX Z or FLEX A line. However, the issue is compatibility with the factory electronic solenoids. Much like the FK8 Civic Type R, we’re having to develop our Canceller Units to avoid any issues unplugging these said electronics. This means that the customer can opt for one of our EDFC kits instead of the factory electronics. Yes, that’s an added cost, but our EDFC systems (specifically ACTIVE and ACTIVE PRO) are very advanced and a worthwhile upgrade. Still, we may consider something like our FLEX AVS coilovers which is aimed at Toyotas and Lexus’s using Adaptive Variable Suspension. BUT, this car uses BMW based suspension, and not Toyota’s AVS. So, that will take a bit more time to develop.

On top of making a FLEX type of coilover, we will plan for a more race oriented type setup, most likely around our new MONO RACING coilovers.

Preliminary testing has been completed on production A90’s (the Supra Pace Cars were technically pre-production vehicles, to my understanding). But we’ll still be working on development once other coilover prototypes arrive. So, give us a little time to get these products out!

How the Recent U.S. Trade Tariffs are Affecting TEIN USA, Inc.

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U.S./China Trade Wars

The recent trade wars between the United States and China have put a little damper (pun intended) in our sales recently. That’s because products manufactured in our own TEIN China factory are being hit with a 27.5% tariff.

What does that mean to the consumer? Actually, even to us here at TEIN USA, Inc., this is a big deal. When we initially offered our STREET BASIS Z & STREET ADVANCE Z coilover line, both manufactured by TEIN China, starting price was $400 and $500 respectively. That was quite an achievement for us.

Earlier this year, we had to implement a small price increase for these same products, due to some previously increased tariffs on Chinese manufactured goods. Now, as of July 1st, our STREET BASIS Z & STREET ADVANCE Z have a starting price of $620 and $700 respectively. However, this also affects our new ENDURAPRO & ENDURAPRO PLUS shock absorber line, which we’ve recently started launching many more vehicle applications. And, it’s also affected our STREET ADVANCE Z4.

Again, that is a huge jump in price. While still reasonable when compared to other aftermarket suspension offerings, this still leaves many customers with some deliberating when choosing their next suspension offering. Again, at that price, you can probably start considering our FLEX Z coilover kit as an option, so long as we have a FLEX Z offering for the customer’s vehicle.

Anticipating this latest tariff increase hurting our sales, we reached out to our authorized dealers and wholesalers in an effort to get them to stock up on coilover kits prior to this increase, which many of them were quick to respond to. So, in a way, we don’t expect our recent price increase to affect customers right away.

At any rate, we truly believe we have some of the best customers around, and we greatly appreciate the support you all have given us over the nearly two decades we’ve spent here on U.S. soil. We hope the U.S. and China can work quickly to reduce these tariffs and let us get back to offering truly reasonable prices to you!


CAUTION: Left-Hand Thread

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CAUTION: LEFT-HAND THREAD

We offer a few coilover kits that use a left-hand threaded body or adjustment tube. In other words, the threading for some of our spring seats and seat locks have a reverse thread. That means that what you usually know about tightening and loosening our spring seats and seat locks is now the opposite for some of these left-hand threaded components.

Again, it’s only a few applications. So to make it easier for you, below are the vehicle applications and coilover kits that have left-hand threaded components for the front left coilover.

2001-2005 Honda Civic:

STREET BASIS Z (GSA22-8USS2)

STREET ADVANCE Z (GSA22-9USS2)

FLEX Z (VSA22-CUSS1)

2003-2005 Honda Civic Si:

STREET BASIS Z (GSA22-8USS2)

STREET ADVANCE Z (GSA22-9USS2)

FLEX Z (VSA22-CUSS1)

2003-2011 Honda Element:

STREET BASIS Z (GSA76-8USS2)

2002-2006 Acura RSX:

STREET BASIS Z (GSA28-8USS2)

STREET ADVANCE Z (GSA28-9USS2)

FLEX Z (VSA02-C1SS1)


We’ve also noted this left-hand thread caution on our website search by vehicle:

As well as our coilover boxes for these specific kits:

AND LASTLY, we also note this in our instruction manual included with every kit:

Hopefully this is helpful for some of you owners of the vehicles listed above. Again, we’re not counting on you to read our blog first, which is why we note this on the boxes and in our manuals, as well as on our product search page of our website.

More Applications of ENDURAPRO/ENDURAPRO PLUS Available!

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We’re well on our way with our new ENDURAPRO & ENDURAPRO PLUS premium shock absorber line, launching new vehicle applications nearly every month!

To simplify what we have available, I’m adding our New Product Guides previously sent to our authorized dealers and distributors:

EnduraPro/EnduraPro Plus Shock Absorbers for S197 Ford Mustangs Now Available!

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More and more applications of our EnduraPro line of premium replacement shock absorbers will be introduced this year! And with that said, we’re also working on applications for American vehicles!

The S197 Mustang is a platform we’re already familiar with, previously launching our Type FLEX coilover system a few years back. However, this new EnduraPro/EnduraPro Plus line isn’t necessarily aimed towards the same kind of customer as with our coilover line.

Pairing well with one of our lowering spring options like our S.TECH line, the EnduraPro/EnduraPro Plus shock absorbers are actually a great improvement when paired with the factory supplied coil springs. We’ve optimized valving of the shocks to add better handling performance without subtracting from the comfortable suspension most OEM suspensions were designed for. Add to that our Hydraulic Bump Stopper (H.B.S.) and you have a very versatile suspension setup whether the road conditions are super smooth or incredibly bumpy, or if the vehicle is fully loaded with passengers or luggage (or groceries).

We tested our EnduraPro Plus (16-level damping adjustable) shock absorbers on a co-workers V6 Mustang. With around 125,000 miles on the odometer, the original shock absorbers were ready for refreshing. Quite honestly, the EnduraPro Plus shocks were a drastic improvement in ride feel and comfort. When set to the softest setting (16-click) front and rear, we were able to maintain a very comfy ride on the street, but left a bit to be desired at highway speeds. At stiff settings (0-click) front and rear, everything changed in the handling characteristics. The ride was definitely firmer, but steering felt incredibly crisp, even with the wheel/tire package (fairly tall sidewalls) this Mustang has. Even at a middle setting (8-click) front and rear, the ride was still very sporty (a bit less firm). I personally found that 8-click front and 13-click rear was a great balance for both street and highway.

While we didn’t get to test these with S.TECH lowering springs (our co-worker doesn’t want to lower his Mustang), I feel that the EnduraPro Plus shocks at a slightly stiffer damping setting would pair up very well.

Anyway, these shock absorbers are now available! Compatible for both V6 and V8 models.

FK8 Civic Type R Suspension Development

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We’ve already showcased our FLEX Z prototype suspension for the FK8 Honda Civic Type R at the SEMA show last year, but we’re now making more headway into production of this kit, as well as lowering springs and the upcoming MONO RACING suspension kit for this platform.




FK8 Civic Type R Suspension Soon Available

Development took longer than expected, mainly due to the availability of this platform in Japan. Why that was troublesome for us is that TEIN Japan usually gets a head-start on product development whenever a global vehicle platform is available. That saves TEIN USA the development time on designing the suspension (altogether possible for us to do, but it still comes with its own development delays).

Prior to the SEMA show, we knew that TEIN Japan finally had an FK8 to do testing on and had prototypes they could send to us. So, as soon as that opportunity came around, we contacted a local partner in having his Type R brought in and tested, and eventually asked ever so kindly to use the car for our booth display at SEMA 😉

As many of you consumers already know, the FK8 front suspension is a far cry from the design for the standard Civic’s that platform shares. It has a very unique strut suspension, much like the Super Strut design of the Toyota Celica.

In fact, the design was so unique that it posed another issue for us in both disassembly and reassembly of the suspension. Of course, we try to offer a suspension kit that is a bolt-on affair for the consumer, so it took a bit of self-education to figure this out ourselves.

Also, newer cars like the Type R have factory electronically controlled suspension. This was a problem because once the factory suspension is removed, a fancy warning came on the dash display. This led us to develop our new Canceller Units that will be included on applicable vehicle applications we make suspension kits for. With the Canceller Unit, no more warnings on the dash, and that means a customer can opt for one of our EDFC controller units, like EDFC ACTIVE PRO.

Production Canceller Unit for FK8 on display at SEMA 2018.

***Canceller Units are vehicle specific unfortunately. Again, we will include them for suspension applications that require them.
Canceller Unit (*prototype used for testing only) installed on FK8 front strut
Canceller Unit (*prototype used for testing) installed on the FK8 rear shock absorber

EDFC would actually be a blessing for this car, since Honda decided to make the shock absorber upper mounting position in an inaccessible design (since our damping adjustment is at the top of the piston rod).

Soon we hope to have these kits available! Please keep posted with us for more info, or keep checking our website for new product releases!


TEIN Makes the Headlines in Thailand!!!

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Well, kinda.

The fact is TEIN already has a great reputation in Thailand through our distributor operating as TEIN Thailand! However, this most recent news really helps put TEIN on the map!!!

It was recently discovered that two men, one Canadian and one Thai, have been working together on smuggling drugs into Australia. “How does this involve TEIN?”, you may ask?

These guys ingeniously used some TEIN coilover kits and opened them up, then stuffed them full of drugs. Total count: over 3,700 grams of heroin, 1 kilogram of marijuana, 1 gram of cocaine, & two ecstasy pills. Quite a haul, considering this all had a reported value of 7.5 million baht (about $240,000 USD).

So the story is that these drug-filled coilovers were sent to an address in Australia, but unfortunately the address was either incorrect or non-existent. So the coilover kits were sent back to Thailand, and upon inspection by customs, it was discovered that they contained the illegal drugs.

Authorities were able to trace the coilover kits back to the original shipper.

Seizure of the property included quite a bit of cash, other illegal drugs, and some expensive luxuries like Rolex watches, a Mercedes E300 (if you know anything about buying/owning a car in Thailand, you’ll know it’s really expensive to do so and have, especially European cars).

I mean, we know our coilover kits are a great value, but we didn’t realize it would be that much! Hahahahaha!

Pictures and information were found in this article by The Nation

Here are the two suspects pointing at their fine work. Canadian Stephens Blair and Thai Pahol Siwasirikarun.
“Here are some of my office supplies, like staples, paper clips, money bundles (for more office supplies), and tape.”

One thing’s for sure, these coilovers probably had the worst ride and handling after their “rebuild”.


Piston Rod Polishing

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One major component for a damper is a piston rod that has to be low friction, but also robust enough to handle stress loads and high temperatures. Typically material-wise, it has to be a high-strength alloy.

In our case, we use cold-drawn chrome-moly steel rods. The cold-drawing method helps to produce a near-finished surface that only needs to be polished (done by centerless grinding). In doing so, the piston rod, which is in contact with several components like our dust seal, some o-rings, and our piston rod guide, which is PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) coated.

This shows are centerless grinding of piston rods during production.

Over time, especially from high mileage use, this polished piston rod surface can start to see some wear. Debris being kicked up from the road will contact the piston rod surface, scratching and, in more extreme cases, pitting the surface. This can create proud bumps on the piston rod. When portions that are subjected to this scratching/pitting contact other parts of the damper, like the dust seal, it can damage it, allowing dirt and debris to enter the damper.

Even such light scratches as shown below can cause problems like noise during operation.

Light scratches can cause problems such as noise during operation.

During periodic inspections of your suspension (you are inspecting them, right?), it is a good idea to inspect the piston rod surface, especially portions under the dust boot and at the top of the damper body (where the dust seal is). You may notice that this portion of the piston rod may have a much more finely polished surface compared to other parts of the rod that do not actually enter the damper. At this “working” section, you should inspect for any light scratches or pitting.

In many cases, these scratches/pits can be corrected by polishing using an abrasive compound (we’ve actually used Mother’s Wheel Polish) and a cloth to rub the compound back and forth over the piston rod surface. You’d be surprised how good a finish you can put back onto the piston rod just by polishing by hand.

This used damper has some small scratches on the piston rod causing noise during operation.


TEIN Endura Pro Plus Shock Absorbers

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This is probably the single most anticipated product from TEIN, for me at least. Why? Probably because I’m reaching a point in my life where I want a simple suspension setup that will work well, and I can do away with a bunch of features I will not really use often. In other words, I’m getting old and lazy.

The TEIN group has been discussing this new line, which is a premium shock absorber, for probably the past five years (to my knowledge). We’ve wanted to get into the replacement shock absorber line for some time now, but we wanted something that had an appreciable difference to the well-known aftermarket shock absorbers already on the market.

So, after all these years and years of discussion and product development, we now have our Endura Pro and Endura Pro Plus shock absorber line.

These shock absorbers are completely compatible with OEM vehicles. As stated, it is a replacement shock absorber. HOWEVER, it is far from a simple replacement. We’ve gone an extra step in making them a high performance shock absorber. In saying that, this product is not the same type of suspension as our existing line of coilovers, which in many cases offer a firmer ride and drastically reduced vehicle body motion (sway, squat, dive). The Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus line does offer a very comfortable ride quality, but internally it is much different than a standard twin-tube shock absorber you’ll find as an OEM shock.

For starters, we actually have increased the internal capacity of the shock absorbers. In most cases, our Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus shock absorbers are the same length as an OEM shock (a few applications use a slightly shorter damper body), but we also use larger diameter damper bodies, thus the internal volume is greater. In doing so, we’ve increased damper oil capacity over a standard shock absorber for the same vehicle application. That translates to better endurance (long-term driving) and increased longevity. It also allows us to use a larger than OEM piston valve which provides a greater damping force range.

For strut type applications, we use thicker piston rods (22mm dia.) able to withstand greater lateral loading that struts are subjected to.

OEM Strut Piston Rod

Endura Pro Strut Piston Rod

Since we use the same high-strength steel as used in our coilover kits, it allows us to reinforce areas of the damper, like the lower brackets on strut type suspensions, or the spring seat or sway bar bracket, without a large penalty in weight. In fact, for some applications the Endura Pro shock absorber is actually lighter than OEM!

Depending on the vehicle application, we will include necessary hardware to make the installation easier, such as collars, bump stoppers/washers, dust boot, bump stop, etc.

OEM shock (bottom) has a crimped collar, making removal of the dust boot, bump stop, and washer impossible. Endura Pro will include new hardware if necessary.

One new feature recently only applied to the TEIN FLEX A coilover kit has now made its way into every Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus shock absorber- our Hydraulic Bump Stop. With the aforementioned FLEX A line, the only other TEIN product to incorporate a Hydraulic Bump Stop is our Gr.N rally coilovers. The off-road crowd probably knows a fair deal about how a hydraulic bump stop works- it creates higher damping force on compression to prevent the suspension from bottoming out completely, then allows the suspension to settle in a very controlled manner on rebound. What you end up with is a reduction in suspension oscillation (excessive up and down movement, or “porpoising”). Never before has a replacement shock absorber ever had such a feature.

The Endura Pro Plus line, specifically, has 16-way damping adjustment, similar to our other damping force adjustable coilover kits like STREET ADVANCE Z, FLEX Z, MONO SPORT, etc. This gives the end user the ability to set their suspension to their preferences depending on their driving conditions. As an added bonus to having this damping adjustment, this technically makes the Endura Pro Plus shock absorbers EDFC series compatible! With EDFC, now you can control the shock absorber damping settings directly from the driver’s seat. Opt for the EDFC ACTIVE or EDFC ACTIVE PRO series, and you’ll get adaptive damping force control based on speed or g-force loading! EDFC is a universal application for our 16-way adjustable TEIN dampers, so any car can use this setup (some vehicles may require modifications or adapters to make the EDFC Motors fit properly)!

Click knob for damping adjustment on strut type Endura Pro Plus

Click knob for damping adjustment on Endura Pro Plus

Lastly, the Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus line adopts our new fully sealed structure in helping keep manufacturing costs (and MSRP) down. These shock absorbers will be available for sale individually, but we’ll also be offering them as a complete set with TEIN S.TECH lowering springs!

So again, this new Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus line is far from a simple replacement shock absorber, and now I can say I know that personally.

After constant nagging to my boss, I wanted to see if we would be making some for the GD3 Honda Fit (2007-2008). Since I’ve taken ownership of my dad’s Fit, I’ve grown to love driving it. It’s by no means a fast car (quite the opposite, actually. I’ll just call it “brisk”), but it is small, lightweight for its size, and kind of fun to drive in a spirited manner. And it’s a practical car for me now that I have a small family of my own. The Fit also saves me from wasting gas in my truck driving solo to and from work, so it’s now my daily driver.

Now, with 80,000 miles, which is relatively low for this year vehicle, I can feel the suspension is not as it was when it was newer. Of course that can be from a number of things, but the shock absorbers are a pretty high wear and tear item in the suspension, so that felt like the cause. After removal of the shocks and compressing them by hand, there was still at least some nitrogen charge in all the shocks, but maybe not enough to really provide good rebound force.

Anyway, to get to the point, I finally got a set of Endura Pro Plus shock absorbers for the Fit!

 

DISCLOSURE– The Endura Pro Plus shock absorbers I’m using are designed for the Japanese market GD3 Honda Fit, which is not a direct fitment for the front.

 

This required some modification to the knuckle brackets by boring out the bolt holes to 14mm. Still, this isn’t a direct fitment even after this modification. The struts are the same length as the US Honda Fit OEM strut, however the spring seat and sway bar bracket are 20mm higher than the OEM strut (fortunately this poses no clearance issues). So, this actually does translate into a slightly higher front ride height. For my Fit, it was approximately 12mm higher than stock ride height in the front.

*Endura Pro Plus Strut (bottom) had bolt holes in lower bracket bored to fit USDM GD3 Honda Fit.

The rear dampers are a direct fit, so no problems there.

Clearance at the bottom is very close to the axle beam, due to the larger diameter body of Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus shock absorber. Fortunately no contact with the beam, even at full droop.

With the shock absorbers set at 8 clicks (middle) front and rear, the ride quality felt very much as I remembered the car feeling like when new. That was ten years ago though, so I really only have a memory to go off of. One of my co-workers said that the shocks set to 16 clicks (softest) was actually an improvement over the worn OEM dampers. At 0 clicks (stiffest) it is actually a noticeably firm ride quality, but far from being jarring (the Fit uses soft springs). I found that a 12 click front and 10 click rear was more to my preference. So I drove on that for about a week, until one of the guys here (Gonzo, aka Cpt. Slammo, aka Monster Tuck) kept telling me “it needs to be lower”…. ughhh.

I actually wanted to lower the car a little anyway. Go figure. I mean that’s really what TEIN suspension is known for doing, so it’s only natural to want to use the products I help sell. So, I bought a set of our S.TECH lowering springs for the Fit (part # SKB36-AUB00). Knowing that the front struts are now a bit higher than the OEM strut, I thought the car would look a little funny with a slightly raised front end. But, to my surprise the ride height actually has a relatively even drop front and rear (referring to tire-fender gap)! The front actually dropped a little over 2″ front and 1.2″ rear (we spec S.TECH’s for the GD3 fit at -1.8″ front and -1.2″ rear). So even with the Endura Pro Plus front struts having higher spring seat position than OEM, it’s nearly about the same ride height as our test data. That difference can be due to the strut mounts (being mostly rubber) starting to sag.

As for ride quality, now it feels more in line with how one of our coilover kits feel, like a STREET ADVANCE Z for example. Not incredibly stiff, but nice and sporty with good compliance for my daily commute. The extra flexibility in having damping adjustability is a worthwhile upgrade, especially if you’re considering using lowering springs with new shock absorbers.

All in all, I’d say this is probably the happiest I’ve been with driving the Fit. The lowering springs really helped reduce the body motions (the Fit has a pretty tall roof line). The reduction in body sway is a dramatic improvement! I’ve found a damping setting on the Endura Pro Plus’s that works really well with the S.TECH’s.

In general, as a replacement shock absorber, the Endura Pro line is a great improvement over the factory suspension. Adding the adjustability I get with the Endura Pro Plus shocks gives me a chance to find a ride quality I prefer!

More information on the Endura Pro/Endura Pro Plus shock absorber line can be found on our website